aSsignments

English 2200: Writing about Literature, Fall 2008

Section 01 (CRN 81093): TR 2:00-3:15PM, Arts & Sciences 366

Section 02 (CRN 81094): MW 5:30-6:45PM, Bell Hall 340

Selected Reading

While I encourage you to read all the poems available in Chapters 11 and 12 (456-527), we will discuss one or two of the following poems, so you should be able to not only paraphrase and explicate them (486-91) but also be able to comment on the diction (496-500).

In Class Group Activities

1. The Most Important Passage(s)

Divide into groups of four or five. Each group will be responsible for finding the three most important passages that illustrate their assigned topic, below. Discuss the core conflict and ultimate meaning in your topic and in your passages. Select a secretary to record and present your findings to the rest of the class.

  1. Emma Bishop's relationship to her body
  2. Emma's relationship to Elizabeth Bishop and her poetry
  3. Emma's relationship to her parents
  4. Emma's relationship to nature (the mantis, her tree, the flies)
  5. Emma's relationship to the world, life

2. Reading a Book of Poetry

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, A Coney Island of the Mind

 

Now that we have practiced close readings of a number of poems, our next task is to understand the overall theme(s) of a book of poetry, specifically Ferlinghetti's, A Coney Island of the Mind. For our next class, reread the book focusing on the poems assigned to your group project team. Come to class prepared to discuss the theme of Ferlinghetti's book based on how he treats the following topics (love, religion, poetry, politics) across multiple poems.

Sharon Olds, Satan Says

 

For our next class, we'll determine the overall theme of Olds' Satan Says by breaking into groups and examining the theme of each of its four sections. Reread the book focusing on the poems assigned to your group project team.

3. Putting Theory into Practice I: General Theory

You have read all five theoretical overviews and written an informal summary on the one assigned to you and your group. The next step in applying theory to the study of literature is practical/praxical.

  1. What questions does the theoretical approach ask any work of literature in general?
  2. What questions does the theoretical approach ask Hamlet in particular?
  3. What might a critic using your group's assigned theory say about Hamlet? What might she focus on and how might she generally interpret Hamlet?

Reading Scholarly Criticism

As you'll find out in class discussion, I have a particular psychoanalytic-existentialist approach to literature. However, there are more approaches to literature than you can learn in any one class or any one degree. In order to introduce you to the various ways of reading (not to mention to prepare for the group project and third paper), we'll read and discuss scholarly articles, which exemplify different critical approaches, on many of the texts we're reading in class. While I encourage you to read all of the criticism, you are only responsible for reading the articles that you're assigned on this sheet. All articles are available online in the Course Documents section of GeorgiaVIEW Vista.

 

Text Article Students (Section 01 TR) Students (Section 02 MW)

Percy, The Moviegoer

Howard, "Waking Up Is Hard to Do: How Walker Percy Brought Sin & Grace to the New Yorker Reader"

Rob Clark

Mallory Kemp

Joye Server

 

Brandon Kendall

Elizabeth Pearce

Laurel Rivers

Jessica Schmidt

Lawson, "The Dream Screen in The Moviegoer"

Emily Barkelew

Andrew Burton

Will Clark

Jeffrey Dowdy

Reneé Williams

Staci Carnell

Melissa Couch

Kelsey Croyle

Kathryn Dee

Ivan Soto

Pindell, "Basking in the Eye of the Storm: The Esthetics of Loss in Walker Percy's The Moviegoer"

Sarah Applebury

Raile Bell

Lauren Mead

Matthew Moore

Kelsey Stitt

David Campbell

Eric Connolly

Kathryn Hurd

Kerry Sullivan

Newkirk, "Via Negativa and the Little Way: The Hidden God of The Moviegoer"

Joey Avitabile

Cathleen Ferraro

Jenny Pickett

Liza Wilson

 

Lorien Campbell

Abigail Gibson

Scott Long

Marissa Mahan

Patricia Podwoski

Keeble, "The Moviegoer as Psychotext"

Yacoubou Alou

Hannah Fouts

Christina Pratt

Kimberly Sanders

Ian Sheddan

Kelly Fulwood

Michelle Herring

Ashlee Jones

William Motes

theoretical approaches

Wednesday, October 22 and

Thursday, October 23
  • Deconstruction
  • Tyson, "Deconstructive Criticism"

Rob Clark

Jenny Pickett

Joye Server

Kelsey Stitt

Lorien Campbell

Staci Carnell

Melissa Couch

Kelsey Croyle
  • Feminism
  • Murfin, "What Is Feminist Criticism?"

Yacoubou Alou

Hannah Fouts

Kim Sanders

Reneé Williams

Kelly Fulwood

Kathryn Hurd

Brandon Kendall

William Motes
  • New Historicism
  • Tyson, "New Historical and Cultural Criticism"

Joey Avitabile

Emily Barkelew

Andrew Burton

Christina Pratt

Liza Wilson

Kathryn Dee

Abby Gibson

Marissa Mahan

Laurel Rivers

Ivan Soto
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Guerin, "The Psychological Approach"

Raile Bell

Will Clark

Cathleen Ferraro

Lauren Mead

Matt Moore

Eric Connolly

Ashlee Jones

S. Elizabeth Pearce

Jessica Schmidt

Kerry Sullivan
  • Reader-Response
  • Hall, "Reader-Response Analysis"

Sarah Applebury

Jeffrey Dowdy

Mallory Kemp

Ian Sheddan

David Campbell

Michelle Herring

Scott Long

Patricia Podwoski

Shakespeare, Hamlet

Monday, October 28 and

Tuesday, October 29
  • Deconstruction
  • Ferguson, "Hamlet: Letters and Spirits"

Rob Clark

Jenny Pickett

Joye Server

Kelsey Stitt

Lorien Campbell

Staci Carnell

Melissa Couch

Kelsey Croyle
  • Feminism
  • Showalter, "Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism"

Yacoubou Alou

Hannah Fouts

Kim Sanders

Reneé Williams

Kelly Fulwood

Kathryn Hurd

Brandon Kendall

William Motes
  • New Historicism
  • Greenblatt, "The Circulation of Social Energy"

Joey Avitabile

Emily Barkelew

Andrew Burton

Christina Pratt

Liza Wilson

Kathryn Dee

Abby Gibson

Marissa Mahan

Laurel Rivers

Ivan Soto
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Jones, "Tragedy and the Mind of the Infant"

Raile Bell

Will Clark

Cathleen Ferraro

Lauren Mead

Matt Moore

Eric Connolly

Ashlee Jones

S. Elizabeth Pearce

Jessica Schmidt

Kerry Sullivan
  • Reader-Response
  • Booth, "On the Value of Hamlet"

Sarah Applebury

Jeffrey Dowdy

Mallory Kemp

Ian Sheddan

David Campbell

Michelle Herring

Scott Long

Patricia Podwoski

Joel and Ethan Coen, The Big Lebowski

Comer, "'This Aggression Will Not Stand": Myth, War, and Ethics in The Big Lebowski"

Rob Clark

Jenny Pickett

Joye Server

Kelsey Stitt

Lorien Campbell

Staci Carnell

Melissa Couch

Kelsey Croyle

Martin and Renegar, "'The Man for His Time' The Big Lebowski as Carnivalesque Social Critique"

Yacoubou Alou

Hannah Fouts

Kim Sanders

Reneé Williams

Kelly Fulwood

Kathryn Hurd

Brandon Kendall

William Motes

Martin-Jones, "No Literal Connection: Images of Mass Commodification, US Militarism, and the Oil Industry, in The Big Lebowski"

Joey Avitabile

Emily Barkelew

Andrew Burton

Christina Pratt

Liza Wilson

Kathryn Dee

Abby Gibson

Marissa Mahan

Laurel Rivers

Ivan Soto

Tyree and Walters, "The Religion of Laughter"

Raile Bell

Will Clark

Cathleen Ferraro

Lauren Mead

Matt Moore

Eric Connolly

Ashlee Jones

S. Elizabeth Pearce

Jessica Schmidt

Kerry Sullivan

Williams, "The Dude Abides: Western Influences in The Big Lebowski"

Sarah Applebury

Jeffrey Dowdy

Mallory Kemp

Ian Sheddan

David Campbell

Michelle Herring

Scott Long

Patricia Podwoski

Informal Writing

The goal of informal writing assignments is to get you to think actively and write critically about literature. These short assignments of 1-2 double-spaced, typed pages will also prepare you to write the longer, formal papers. Approximately once per week, you will be asked to respond to or practice analyzing some element of fiction (conflict, character, setting, imagery, figure of speech, etc.), respond to a thematic issue, or practice summarizing scholarly criticism in preparation for formal papers and research projects.

 

Responses will be due by the start of class on the due date, either as a typed hard copy or word-processing file in Vista > Informal Writing #. To retrieve your graded electronically submitted paper, go to Vista >Assignments > Informal Writing #. You can retrieve your graded response in the same dropbox; look for the file (not the comments, not the grade, but the actual file) under submissions posted by me. Here is a grading rationale and calculation of informal writing assignments; and here is a handout on Vista basics.

  1. Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown"
    • Do a character sketch of Young Goodman Brown. What do we know about him and how do we know it? What does he want? What causes him anxiety? What are his core conflicts?
    • Due: Section 02: Wednesday, August 27
      Due: Section 01: Tuesday, September 2
  2. Conrad, "The Secret Sharer" or Joyce, "Araby"
    • Choose one of the stories and then describe its setting. How does the setting advance the main characters prime conflict(s). How does the setting function in the overall meaning of the story?
    • Due: Section 02: Wednesday, September 3
    • Due: Section 01: Thursday, September 4
  3. Daitch, "X ≠ Y" or Carver, "The Neighbors"
    • Choose one of the stories and then describe its narrative point of view. Describe the narrator; what does the the narrator know and what does she not know? Why was the story written from this point of view? For Daitch, what meaning does the use of the second person give to the story that the first or third cannot? For Carver, how does the narrator's point of view coincide with the Millers'? How might the narrator be looking in on the Millers just as the Millers are looking in on the Stones, and what does that mean thematically? For Daitch, How does daydreaming function in the story? Why do "you" daydream these particular events? What latent conflict does the daydream manifest?
    • Due: Section 02: Wednesday, September 10
    • Due: Section 01: Thursday, September 11
  4. Percy, criticism
    • As a group, write a one page, double-spaced summary of your assigned article from the criticism schedule. What is the article's broad topic? What is its specific, focused, analytical, argumentative thesis? What questions does the critic ask of the novel, what evidence does she use to draw her conclusions, and what interpretations does she make?
    • Due: To Be Written in Class
  5. Theory
    • Since 18 of 22 of you have already read Hamlet, we're going to jump into a theoretical discussion of it. Read all five of the theoretical approaches (deconstruction, feminism, psychoanalysis, New Historicism, reader-response) available in Vista > Course Documents > Theory. Next, write a response to the theory assigned to you on criticism schedule that summarizes the main tenets of the theory. Print this response out and bring it to class. Note: Do not read the Shakespeare criticism for this informal response; just read the theory.
    • Due: Section 02: Wednesday, October 22
    • Due: Section 01: Thursday, October 23
  6. The Big Lebowski
    • First, watch the film clip and write down everything you see and hear that you believe is significant: in addition to the elements you would look for in fiction (character, conflict, setting, symbols, theme), pay attention to the film's dialogue, music, camera angles, lighting, film stock, editing, mise en scène. Second, write a paragraph discussing how the clip broaches the core conflicts, issues, and themes of the film.
    • Due: To Be Written in Class
  7. The Big Lebowski, criticism
    • For your last informal writing, you're going to do one final practice annotation to prepare for the annotated bibliography. Write a 75-100 word summary of your assigned article from the criticism schedule. What is the article's broad topic? What is its specific, focused, analytical, argumentative thesis? What questions does the critic ask of the film, what evidence does she use to draw her conclusions, and what interpretations does she make?
    • Due: To Be Written in Class

Peer Response

Goals

The dual goals of this course are for you to read and write about literature in a variety of manners. Informal writing and formal papers allow you to analyze the texts; reading scholarly criticism and participating in class discussion exposes you to a variety of other interpretations. Peer response sessions extend the reading and writing process by allowing you and your peers to engage in direct oral and written dialogue about matters of interpretation, with the ultimate goal of improving your formal papers. You have the opportunity to revise your first two formal papers based upon comments by your peers and myself. You will provide constructive criticism to 3 or 4 other members of the class as will they to you.

Note: If a group member does not submit her paper in .doc or .rtf format at least two days before the peer response session, the rest of the group is not responsible for responding to her paper.

Peer Response Groups

Written Peer Response

Answer the following questions as you formulate your one page, double-spaced response to each peer's paper. Because these peer response papers and sessions help your peers revise their papers and thus improve their grade, it is very important that you offer the best constructive criticism in the strongest possible terms, both in writing and in the group meeting. Do not simply say that a peer's paper is okay. Even if you find no problems, engage a dialogue with the paper's interpretation.

Verbal Peer Response

In the peer response meeting, group members will share their responses in verbal form. Writers take turns listening to their group members review their work. Specifically, the group should go around the circle and address the following issues. The process should take 7-10 minutes per writer and last 35-50 minutes depending on the size of the group.

Paper 1 Close Reading

We have discussed Rachel, Faulkner, Bambara, Hawthorne, Conrad, Joyce, Gass, and (some) Percy at length in class. You have written about some of these works, but only informally and tentatively. Now is your opportunity to rigorously analyze a work of literature. For the first formal paper, write an essay built around the most important passage in one of the texts that we have read so far. In your studied interpretation, what is the most significant passage? Why is it central to the core conflicts, character, and meaning of the story? What issues does it embody? In other words, using this key passage, you should write a paper that 1) interprets the meaning of the work via 2) explicating the fundamental conflicts and basic concerns of the text.

 

Note: You will write at least one draft of this paper and have the option of revising. The first draft, which will also be reviewed by your peers, will be given a tentative grade. If you choose to revise, the second draft grade will replace the first. If you earn an F on the first draft, you must revise, otherwise you will fail the course.

Paper 2 Interpretive Debate

We have discussed Rachel, Faulkner, Bambara, Hawthorne, Conrad, Joyce, Daitch, Carver, Gass, Percy, Ferlinghetti, Olds, Albee, and O'Neill at length in class. For the first formal paper, you analyzed the core conflicts and meaning of a work by looking at a significant passage. For the second formal paper, enter into the interpretive debate; write an essay that analyzes a difference of interpretion on a key point in a work of literature. Present the different interpretations, then argue for your side, your reading. Some issues that we have debated include but are not limited to: what Sylvia's final line in "The Lesson" means, the boundary between dream and reality in "Young Goodman Brown," the boundary between daydream and reality in "X ≠ Y," why Binx marries Kate at the end of The Moviegoer and/or what this means for his search and/or if his search is existential or Christian, what happened to the speaker in "Satan Says" and/or why she was praying to Satan. You may, of course, use an interpretive question not listed here. You may use any work we've read in class, but it must not be the same work on which you wrote your first formal paper. You may use the Percy criticism we've read in class to help you, but you are neither required nor encouraged to do research for this paper.

 

Note: You will write at least one draft of this paper and have the option of revising. The first draft, which will also be reviewed by your peers, will be given a tentative grade. If you choose to revise, the second draft grade will replace the first. If you earn an F on the first draft, you must revise, otherwise you will fail the course..

Group Project

1. Sign-Up

The informal writing and first two papers compelled you to analyze literature, to estimate the author's world view. This assignment asks you to do just that, but also to teach the class what you've come to understand. Your group must choose a work of literature in the genre you've been assigned. Groups of four or five will compose a WikiSpaces or WetPaint website (or similar collaborative webspace that the rest of the class can view) that provides 1) a working analysis of the text as well as 2) an annotated bibliography of journal articles, books, and book chapters on the text and/or its author. Groups will then teach the work of literature to the class in a multimedia enhanced presention (for example, the webspace, Powerpoint, YouTube, mp3, and so forth).  The project should be both informative and interpretive. This assignment is neither a book report nor a biography, but instead a critical and analytical interpretation of a work of literature.

 

The purpose of this sheet is merely to form groups.  Sign up for two slots, placing a #1 by your first choice and a #2 by your second choice. Do not sign a slot that is already full.  Once groups are assigned, those groups are responsible for meeting with me outside of class to determine a work of literature to read, research, and teach to the class.

 

Section 01 TR 2:00-3:15PM

 

poetry

Dorothy Parker

Rob Clark

Jenny Pickett

Joye Server

Kelsey Stitt

novel or short story(ies)

Ngugi wa Thiong'o, "A Meeting in the Dark"

Yacoubou Alou

Hannah Fouts

Kim Sanders

Reneé Williams

film

American History X

Joey Avitabile

Emily Barkelew

Andrew Burton

Christina Pratt

Liza Wilson

film

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Raile Bell

Will Clark

Cathleen Ferraro

Lauren Mead

Matt Moore

play

Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Sarah Applebury

Jeffrey Dowdy

Mallory Kemp

Ian Sheddan

 

Section 02 MW 5:30-6:45PM

 

poetry

John Keats, "The Eve of St. Agnes"

Lorien Campbell

Staci Carnell

Melissa Couch

Kelsey Croyle

poetry

Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Kelly Fulwood

Kathryn Hurd

Brandon Kendall

William Motes

novel or short story(ies)

Fitzgerald, "Winter Dreams" and "Babylon Revisited"

Kathryn Dee

Abby Gibson

Marissa Mahan

Laurel Rivers

Ivan Soto

film

Fight Club

Eric Connolly

Ashlee Jones

S. Elizabeth Pearce

Jessica Schmidt

Kerry Sullivan

play

Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House

David Campbell

Michelle Herring

Scott Long

Patricia Podwoski

2. General Goals

The informal writing and first two papers compelled you to analyze literature, to estimate the author's world view. This assignment asks you to do just that, but also to teach the class what you've come to understand. Your group must choose a work of literature in the genre you've been assigned. Groups of four or five will compose a Wikispaces website (or similar collaborative webspace; here is Wikispaces' Help page) that provides a working analysis of the text as well as an annotated bibliography of journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly websites on the text and/or its author. Groups will then teach the work of literature to the class in a multimedia enhanced presention.  The project should be informative and argumentative. This assignment is neither a book report nor a biography, but instead a critical and analytical interpretation of a work of literature.

 

Plan of Action

 

Approximately four weeks before the presentation, groups must create, distribute to members and professor a plan of action that provides a timeline of meetings, individual group member responsibilities, and due dates. Individual group members must participate in the group (attend meetings, keep up with email) and complete their individual assignments in a timely manner.

3. Written Component

4. Presentation Component

The presentation should accomplish two objectives:

  1. Summarize the ways critics read the story as well as what issues they debate.
  2. Teach the work of literature to the class according to your group's reading of it.

As long as you meet these two objectives, the format of the presentation is completely up to you. Audiovisual aides such as Microsoft Powerpoint, YouTube, and mp3 will help to guide your presentation. You may choose to focus on various elements of literature (conflict, character, setting, symbol, point of view, structure, tone) as ways into the work of literature as we have done in previous classes. You have all the technology of our classroom at your disposal: computer with internet, projector, dvd/cd, and Microsoft Powerpoint; let me know if you need other equipment. Presentations will be approximately 20 minutes long and followed by a five to ten minute question and answer period.

5. Group Project Timeline

Week 7

Groups assigned.
Week 8

Choose text for group project.

Week 9

Read and analyze text individually.

Week 10

Discuss text as group.
Week 11

Research Methods Tutorial.

Research text both individually and as group.

Week 12

Begin planning presentation and written components.
Week 13

Lab time for group projects given in class.

Work on presentation and written component.

Week 14

Lab time for group projects given in class.

Work on presentation and written component.

Week 15

Group Presentations

Written component due on day of presentation.

Paper 3 Research Paper

In the first formal paper, you analyzed a particular passage, and in the second paper you debated the oppositing meanings of a work that we have read in class. For the third and final paper, select a work of literature not discussed in class (it may, however, be the work your group project worked on), and, after clearing it with me, write an in depth analysis and interpretation of the work using 3-5 works of scholarly criticism (journal articles, books, and book chapters) to provide support or counterargument. The primary emphasis of this paper is your thoughtful, rigorous analysis of a work of literature; use the secondary sources only inasmuch as they aid your interpretation.

 

Thesis and Sources: When we meet individually to discuss your third paper, bring your working thesis, a bibliography of 10 works of scholarly criticism (approximately half books and half journal articles). Here is the sign-up sheet for our individual conference, to be held during class time.

 

Individual Conference Sign-Up Sheet

 

Section 02 MW

 

W, 11-19
Scott Long Updike, Rabitt Run
David Campbell Ibsen, A Doll's House
Melissa Couch Atwood, A Handmaid's Tale
Staci Carnell Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Kelsey Croyle  
Lorien Campbell Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard
William Motes Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
Brandon Kendall Whitman, "Song of Myself"
Katie Hurd Hemingway, "Soldier's Home"
Kelly Fulwood Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
M, 11-24
Michelle Herring Ibsen, A Doll's House
Patricia Podowski Wilson, Fences
Kerry Sullivan Fight Club
Elizabeth Pearce Fight Club
Eric Connolly Fight Club
Jessica Schmidt Fight Club
Marissa Mahan Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Ivan Soto Hemingway, "The Old Man and the Sea"
Abby Gibson Plath
Laurel Rivers O'Connor, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and "Good Country People"
Kathryn Dee Calvino, Cosmicomics
Ashlee Jones Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings

 

Section 01 TR

 

R, 11-20
Yacoubou Alou

Ngugi, "A Meeting in the Dark"
Matt Moore Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Cathleen Ferraro Mitchell, Gone with the Wind
Jeffrey Dowdy 2001: A Space Odyssey
Kelsey Stitt Churchill, Cloud 9
Kim Sanders Golding, Lord of the Flies
Reneé Williams Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Ian Sheddan Memento
Raile Bell Adams, Plague Dogs
Rob Clark Godfather Trilogy
Will Clark Lord of War
T, 11-25
Emily Barkelew Rice, Interview with the Vampire
Christina Pratt Orwell, 1984
Liza Wilson Doctorow, Ragtime
Joey Avitable Apocalypse Now
Sarah Applebury Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Mallory Kemp Forest Gump
Hannah Fouts Melville, Moby-Dick
Andrew Burton Ibsen, A Doll's House
Joye Server Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Jenny Pickett Parker, poetry
Lauren Mead Ginsberg, Howl

 

Note: You will only turn in one draft of this paper to me; however, I encourage you to share drafts with peers you've learned to trust in class and peer response sessions.

 

© Alex E. Blazer 2024